Dropping pipette

A plastic dropper used for transferring small volumes of liquids. They have approximate volumes marked on, but are not suitable for quantitative work. The dropping pipette shown is intended to be disposable, but many places re-use them. They do not have a long life expectancy as they tend to split. When this happens they will no longer suck up liquids. If this occurs, rinse it thoroughly and follow your teacher's instructions for disposal.

If you are using more than one dropping pipette, make sure that you do not mix them up, as this will contaminate the chemical in the stock bottles. Be careful where you put your used droppers. Don't place them on the bench surfaces as this results in cross-contamination. That is, material from the bench may transfer to the liquid in the pipette, and liquid from the pipette will get onto the bench surface. If the liquid is hazardous, this may result in an accident.